


The Salem Witches' Institute

by ggwweenn1



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: America, Boarding School, Drama & Romance, High School, Multi, Original Character(s), Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Salem Witches' Institute (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-05-13 06:44:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19245934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ggwweenn1/pseuds/ggwweenn1
Summary: Pretend that JRK stopped making Harry Potter media after Deathly Hallows. Pretend that the Fastastic Beasts movies and all the lore JKR shat out for them never existed. Let me give you an orginal high school drama set in America, by someone who has been to American high school, with in depth world building that establishes the North American Wizarding Community in a way that is true to American history.Join Vega Bloom, a young muggle-born witch, as she starts her first year as The Salem Witches' Institute, North America's oldest school for witchcraft. If she wants to survive her first year of high school she will need to learn as much as she can about magic, friendship, and herself.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this fic originally in 2014, years before the Fanastic Beasts movies and their uncompanying lore were announced. I think my world building for an American wizarding society is better than hers, as I have a solid understanding of American culture and history, so I decided to edit and rewrite this fic and post it again. Almost all of the characters are OCs, with a few characters side characters being shared with the main Harry Potter books. 
> 
> Enjoy this story of magic and mystery and high school drama.

“Can I sit here?” I asked the three girls in the train compartment. One of the girls, a pretty blonde thing who looked like she had a fake nose, gave me a once over and a snarky smile.

“Not unless you’re a metamorphmagus,” She said, causing her friends to giggle. I gave them a sickly sweet smile.

“Oh that’s fine. I’ll just go find some other bitches, sorry, witches, to sit with. I’m not too interested in hanging out with you or your nose jobs anyway,” I said, heading down the next compartment. It was occupied by two people that looked like siblings in a causal argument. They stopped when they saw me and gave me a smile. The girl spoke up immediately

“You can sit with us, as long as you promise not to toast us like you did that bitch back there,” she joked. I moved into the compartment and sat down on the side with the boy.

“We heard those Royals messing with you, but don’t worry, I’ll get them back,” He said.

“My name is Felix Felicis the twelfth, and this is my sister Fortuna Felicis. We’re both freshmen. How ‘bout you?” He said, downing a tube of mini M&Ms. 

“I’m Vega Bloom, I’m a freshman too,” I told them. AThe second after the silence had become awkward I spoke up again. “I thought The Salem Witches Institute was an all girls school. Where are you going, Felix?” I asked. 

“The Pocono Wizards’ Academy, it’s Salem’s brother school. I thought the whole world knew that.” Fortuna said, slightly intrigued by my lack of knowledge. 

“Well I’m new to this world, sorry.” I said. She laughed. 

“Wow Fe, you do know how to pick them.” She said to her brother, passing him five dollars. I raised an eyebrow. She turned back to me. “Before you came over, me and Fe made a bet over who you could be. We know almost all the wizarding families on the east coast, so you were either from the west or muggle born, now we know which.” She said. I looked down at my hands. From what I had read, muggle borns were generally treated as lesser by pure blooded magic users. I’d hoped nobody would notice, but I guess it was obvious. Felix rested his hand on my back. 

“She doesn’t mean that in a bad way, we were just curious. Birth doesn’t mean anything. Why did you even bring it up!” He hissed at his sister while rubbing little circles on my back. “Just look at Hermione Granger, she was muggle born and the Battle of Hogwarts would have been lost without her.” He rambled on. Fortuna rubbed her face in exasperation.

“Fe, you’re making it worse. Let’s just drop it. I’ll get you your first chocolate frog card from the trolley, you will love it.” Fortuna said just as the trolley rolled up to our door. 

The trolley was a boxy pushcart like the ones flight attendants used on airplanes, except this one was far more fantastic. It was painted to look like a candy store, with little customers even appearing to move around inside, and children staring in through the window. I observed asFortuna as she ordered three boxes of every flavor beans and fifteen chocolate frogs, which the woman tending to the cart reached into a drawer and pulled out for her. Fortuna passed her some money, which she tucked into a fold of her skirt, then Felix handed her a box and a note.

“Can you please deliver this to the pretty blonde girl in the next cart, I have a thing for her, but I want to keep it a secret for now.” He said to her quietly. The trolley lady laughed and took the box. 

“Young love the way it should be.” She said as she went to the compartment I had been scorned by. We heard her give the girl the box and then we heard her read the note.

“When I saw you at the train station, I was blinded by your radiant beauty. Please accept these sugar-free fat-free nougats as a token of my affections. With love, your Slate sophomore,” She read. 

The other girls “awww”ed. Fortuna and Felix doubled over in silent laughter. I looked at them curiously. Fortuna held up a hand to indicate that I should wait. After a few minutes we heard a yelp. Then we saw the girl run down the hall, her nose gushing blood. I cracked up.

“How did you do that?” I laughed. Felix pulled himself together enough to tell me.

“Nosebleed nougat, I had it shipped over from Diagon Alley just for this prank,” He divulged.

“What did you have against her? Besides her being mean to me, I mean,” I asked. He shook his head.

“It's not about her. It's about the Royals and Slates and the Silver and Brass. The houses,” he said, explaining nothing. Fortuna could see my mild confusion.

“It's a feud. We, the Brass and Silver, hate the Royal and Slate. They are all pure or near pure blooded, wealthy, prestigious, and rude. They treat us like second class citizens.” She said.  
“I think I got it. Then shouldn’t you guys be Royal and Slate, as you are from a well known family?” I said. She shrugged. 

“Sometimes members of our family are, like our cousin Lilac, but it’s a toss up. Our dad was a Slate, but his brother was a Brass, and our mom is a muggle born so she was in Silver,” Felix said, making a face about the bean he just ate.

“What was that one?” Fortuna asked Felix.

“Beats me. I think it was white glue or original chapstick.” He said. I went to grab a bean, curious about how “every flavor” they were. I popped the bean in my mouth and chewed. 

“Mine tastes like steak.” I said. Fortuna nodded. The train rolled to a stop, we must be picking up the last of the students in Boston.

“You are lucky. Once I had one that tasted like dishwater. It was the worst,” She said, tossing me a chocolate frog. “Open that and put it directly in your mouth. Don’t let it get away.” She added.  
I opened the box and the frog started moving. I put the open box to my mouth and tipped it to get the frog in my mouth. The chocolate was pretty standard fare, but I guess the moving frog part was all the reason they were so cool.

“Who did you get?” Fortuna asked, pointing at the box in my hand.

“What?” I responded. Just then there was a knock at our carriage door. A boy and a girl were standing there, smiling.

“Lilac! We haven’t seen you in forever! This is Vega, we just met her a little while ago after some bitches called her ugly. Vega this is our cousin Lilac, she is a junior.” Fortuna said, scooting over so the newcomers could sit down.

“It's lovely to see you two, and it is lovely to meet you Vega. This is my friend Danny, he’s a sophomore.” She said, introducing the boy she had shown up with. The two moved themselves into the compartment and sat down, Danny beside me and Lilac with Fortuna. They all caught up while I ate my jellybeans and studied the family resemblance between the twins and Lilac.

They were both suntanned with hazel eyes, narrow noses, sun-kissed brown curls and lean-muscular builds. Fortuna’s hair was pulled into a high ponytail that disappeared behind her back, while Felix’s hair was unstyled and kept getting in his eyes . Lilac had the same hazel eyes and narrow nose as the twins, but was different in every other way. She had a blonde bob and fairy like figure. Danny looked all his own with cropped black hair, a square jaw, and bright blue eyes.

“Earth to Vega! Danny asked you about your summer.” Felix said, poking me in the arm.

“Oh uh, I had a very nice summer. I was at engineering camp before my parents called me home and told me I was a literal witch. Then I spent the rest of the summer learning the basics of the wizarding world and potions,” I told Danny. He looked at me curiously.

“What kind of engineering?” He asked, taking a bean from my box. 

“Mechanical I guess? Nothing special,” I told him. He seemed totally interested in my muggle studies.  
“Were you working on anything in particular?” He asked. I nodded. Felix and Fotrtuna were looking at us confused while Lilac was just looking uninterested.

“Not really. We were just like attaching little motors to toothbrush heads to make them dance around on the ground and stuff like that,”

“Thats cool. I find muggle technology very fascinating. Its rate of development and improvement far outpaces that of magic.” He said. I nodded.

“I agree. As cool as magic is, the magical world could stand to be more efficient. Your transportation and communication is antiquated. A jet plane can go ten times the speed of a broom and I get an email from the other side of the world in an instant. It would take an owl a week or more to deliver a letter that distance.” I expressed. Lilac rolled her eyes.

“Well can technology make you lucky? Or teleport you by simply touching an object? Or make someone love you?” She retorted. I raised an eyebrow.

“No, not yet, and arguably.” I sassed back. Felix put a hand on my shoulder and made a down motion towards Lilac.

“Ladies calm down. Both tech and magic have their advantages.” He said. I shrugged his hand off my shoulder and looked out the window while Felix prattled on to me about their summer.  
When we felt the train come to a stop, they all stood up and stretched. They left their candy on the table and their carry-ons in the racks and left the carriage. 

“Guys, what about our stuff?” I asked as they walked towards the exits.

“It’ll show up in our rooms later, no worries.” Lilac explained. I rolled my eyes.

“How does that work? We don’t even have our room assignments yet! How will they make sure we get the right bags?” I exclaimed. Fortuna turned around and gave an exasperated sigh.

“It’s Magic.”


	2. Chapter 2

Bizarrely the train was stopped in the middle of the woods, the tracks appearing to just end a little after where the engine was sitting. There was a creek to one side of the clearing, and a stone path along the other.

“Freshmen for Salem Witches’ Institute follow me, please join me over here,” Called a tall, blonde, beautiful woman with a french accent. She stood in front of the water with four rafts, each with a six-foot lampost in the middle.

“My name is Mademoiselle Delacure, if you could all please board the rafts, we can get on our way to the opening ceremonies,” she instructed. 

We boarded the first raft with a set of twins a snotty looking bluenette and started slowly down the stream. It was quiet and dark except for the laughter and lanterns we left behind us. Now all we could see was the two feet in front of the raft that our small light allowed; and what I could see were rapids.

I feel the spray before the raft dipped, soaking my shoes. I clung to the lamp post with the others until a flash of something in the stream caught my eye. I let go for a second to investigate when I saw that whatever it was it kept up with our raft.

“Vega are you crazy? You could fall off!” Fortuna shouted of the rushing water. 

“I’ll be fine. A little water never hurt anybody,” I called back. She shook her head.

“Water won’t hurt you, but nereids might,” She told me. Not that I knew what a nereid was.

“What’s are ne-” I was cut on by a bump that knocked me off my feet and off the raft. I guess I would find out was nereids were when they harmed me.

After a second of sitting in the water, not moving or being eaten, I noticed something; my shoulders weren't in the water. As fast moving as the creek was, it was less than three feet deep. I waded to the shore as I watched the raft, and my only friend in the wizarding world, speed away.

When I reached the shore I tried to get my bearings. I assumed I was somewhere in Massachusetts, but other than that I was lost. We could either be in the east or west because the Poconos are west but Salem is east. Judging by the density of the forest, we were probably closer to the Poconos. That meant it was a long walk to Salem.

I began following the water until we came to a fork, luckily there was a sign that read “lost little witches can fly to the institute, if they think they're good enough.” followed by an image of a baby on a broomstick. Under the sign was a broom. 

Ok, so I had no clue how to fly a broom. I bet this was some sort of cruel joke. They know only muggle borns would be stupid enough to fall overboard, so they are poking fun at the fact that they can’t fly yet. Even if it was a joke, it was my only way to school. I mounted the broom.

How do they do it in the movies? I suppose they generally close their eyes and smile. But why did they smile? They thought happy thoughts! I think. So I did. I thought about my parents and how happy they were that I was special. I thought about my completely normal friends back home that thought i was at a super prestigious all-girls boarding school. I thought about how much I needed this to work so I could go to fucking witch school. 

The broom was holding me a couple inches above the ground. I curled up my legs so my ankles were touching the broom head and leaned forward, assuming that would cause me to go forward.   
I lurched forward then stopped, then lurched forward again. I tried a more moderate lean and went forward at a steady pace. I followed the right fork thinking right is right. I was going faster than the water below me, and would probably catch up with the rafts in no time. 

When I reached the rafts, they were docked and empty. I looked around but couldn’t find any paths through the woods or see any buildings. I flew up and did a 360 before noticing what looked like a ruined mansion. I heard Felix talking about the charm that makes the schools look run down to muggles, so I supposed that was it and the charm would wear off when I got closer.

As I approached the lights seemed to appear out of the fog and the foliage fell off the building as if it had never been there at all. I saw the other students walking through the thrown open double doors. I nose dived towards the crowd, pulling up at the last second and landing. I dismounted the broom and turned towards the other freshmen. Not to brag, but that may have been the sickest thing I had done in my whole life. The girls looked shocked. Mademoiselle Delacour looked unimpressed. 

“Thank you for joining us,” she stated simply, before turning away and continuing into the mansion's foyer. I held the broom in one hand while I moved through the group to find Fortuna. When I found her she was ecstatic.

“If I had known going overboard would grant me a fabulous entrance like that, I would have gone with you,” She whispered while we walked through the quiet main hall. We giggled as we walked up to a large set of closed double doors. 

“Now ladies, the headmistress is going to say a few words, then you will be sorted. Remember to stay perfectly silent while your headmistress is talking,” Mademoiselle Delacour hissed at us before throwing open the doors. She lead us in and walked right up onto the scaffold, where a straight backed chair stood with nothing but a worn out purple witches’ hat on it’s seat. Mademoiselle Delacour cleared her throat.

“Before we begin the ceremony, or headmistress would like a word,” 

“Welcome to The Salem Witches’ Institute, North America’s oldest and most prestigious school for witchcraft. I’m your headmistress Meredith McGonagall, and I would like to start off the semester with a few brief announcements,” The headmistress started. She was tall and regal and looked like a witch headmistress should, all pointed features and flowing robes. From the groan that escaped the upperclassmen I knew that the announcements would be dull and anything but brief. 

“First off, and I can not stress this enough, there is to be no leaving campus without approval from your dorm advisor. Up until last year we had turned a blind eye, but due to last years unfortunate incident we can no longer afford such leniency. 

Second, tryouts for the varsity and jv quidditch team will start next week. All years are allowed to tryout for either team; no priority will be given to former team members, they must prove their skills just like everyone else. The first match will be in three Fridays against The Poconos Wizards Academy,” She declared. The hall erupted into cheers. I didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. I had been reading up on quidditch, the schools only sport, since my letter arrived and it didn’t seem like anything to shout about. It was like dangerous flying rugby. With the added bonus of a snitch. 

“Third, we are hosting the fall ball on the first Saturday of October and there will be no classes the day before or the day of, with normal class time being used for Highly Encouraged dance lessons. You may invite friends who go to any different wizarding schools, however muggles are strictly forbidden as dates. The boys from the brother school will also be in attendance.

“Lastly, there is to be no use of cellular phones for non-emergency situations while you are on campus. Any student seen using one will have the device confiscated and returned at Autumn break. Other than that, let's commence with the sorting,” She said clapping her hands together. Mademoiselle Delacour stepped forward with a scroll.

“When I call your name you will sit in the chair, I shall place the hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses. Amora de Montmorency,” She called. The bitchy blond girl with blood all down her uniform went and sat in the chair. Mademoiselle placed the hat on her head and suddenly it’s folds became a face. It opened its mouth and it had a thick boston accent.

“Oh I don’t even have to think on this one. ROYAL,” The hat shouted. The Royal table clapped politely to welcome their new member.

“Fortuna Felicis,” was the next name called. My fast friend squeezed my arm before walking ahead and sitting in the chair. The hat laughed.

“Girl, you’re a tough one. I’ll put you where I put your mother. SILVER,” The hat announced. The Silver table had a vastly different reaction to their new member. They all stood up and hooted and hollered for the new girl. This went on for about ten minutes; the hat was sassy, the Royals were polite, the Silvers were rowdy. When they got to my name I had the count at six Royals and eight Silvers. I went up, sat on the chair and had the hat placed on my head. It didn’t speak for a moment. I could almost hear a clock ticking.

“Oh you are so close to being Royal, but I’m pretty sure they’d be less than welcoming to someone like you. She’s SILVER,” The hat chimed. I went to sit down with Fortuna.

_____________________________________________________________________

When the sorting finished Fortuna and I got associated with the rest of the freshmen at our table while digging into the opening feast.

“Camille You, Philadelphia”   
“Molly West, Boston,”   
“Holly West, Boston,”  
“Courtney Platt, West Virginia”   
“Fortuna Felicis, Washington D.C.”   
“Vega Bloom, Connecticut”  
“Samantha Dean, Philadelphia,”   
“Hannah Jackson, Maryland,”   
“Drew Freedman, Columbus Ohio,”  
“Edith Masters, Cleveland Ohio,”

Camille was tall and lanky, Molly had long pink hair and four rings in each ear that I was sure were against dress code, Holly had perfectly pinned black retro curls, Courntey was a country beauty covered in freckles, Samantha was alright, Hannah was curvy and had cherubic features, Drew had silver braided into her cornrows, and Edith was all freckles and red curls. Camille spoke up through a mouthful of food glaring over at the table of Royals who were whispering and pointing at us.

“What’s up their ass? It’s not even the first day of class and they seem to think they are better than us,” She mumbled loudly. Fortuna swallowed her huge mouthful of food before responding.

“They think we’re shit because we don’t have money and lineage. They are just pureblood elitist,” she stated. Camille swallowed her food.

“What’s a pureblood?” She inquired. Holly answered this time.

“People whose entire family tree is made of wizards and witches. As opposed to a muggle-born, someone with no wizards or witches in their tree,” She finished. Molly nodded.

“Everyone else is a half-blood. Half-bloods like Holly and I are a mix of muggle and magic user,” She said before taking a huge swig of butterbeer. We all talked about our hometowns and joked about old Professor Scamander eyeing Mademoiselle Delacour so attentively that he spilled his drink. I could see why he was ogling though, she was beautiful and had an air of perfection. I couldn’t take my eyes off her after I started staring.

“Earth to Vega, our head girl is taking us to our rooms!”Fortuna said, pulling me out of my trance. I stood up, smoothing my skirt. We all wore black, purple, and grey pleated skirts with black blouses. We all had beautiful white cloaks for when it got cold, which would probably be in a few weeks, knowing New England weather. We were supposed to be getting ties to match our house, but we hadn’t even been to our rooms yet so there was no way we could have had them to wear to the banquet. 

We walked down one of the halls adjacent to the entry hall until we reached what felt like the north corner of the house. We went up the spiral staircase to the third floor while our head girl told us about the school and the house.

“So the school has three, well technically four perfectly square floors. On random intervals, or maybe whenever someone visits the headmistress’s office as my friend Carly suspects, the floors will turn. You won’t feel it or even notice it if you aren’t in a room with a window. You probably won’t know it has happened until you try to go to your next class,” She said as we entered a lush silver and black parlor. We continued walking towards a hall lined with portraits and doors. Oddly, all the paintings seemed to look like they were getting ready for bed.

“Miss Chance Hilliard is our dorm advisor,” the head girl started again, “She takes all complaints, she is who you talk to if you want to leave campus, and she is the best shoulder to cry on in this whole school. She really cares for her house, even if she can be a bit strict. Oh look, we’re at your rooms,” she explained. She pulled a sheet of paper out from under her black, stereotypical witch hat. 

“Bloom, Dean, Felicis, Freedman, and Jackson, black door. Masters, Platt, West, West, and You, white door. Your bags, house-wear, and schedules will be on your beds. See you at breakfast ladies,” She read from the paper. She walked down the hall, leaving us to our own devices. I followed my housemates through a black door set onto a wall covered in silver and dark grey print wallpaper. The opposing wall had a similar, but lighter wallpaper and a white door swinging closed behind its new occupants.

Immediately when you step into the room there are two more doors, one leading to a walk-in closet, presumably for the five of us to share, and one leading to a bathroom. The main room was large, with five beds lofted over desks and drawers lining the walls. The bed with my bags on it was tucked into the far corner, and was nearly out of eyesight from the front door.

“Vega lets trade beds,” Drew said, throwing her arms around me.

“What?” I replied as I took off my black mary janes. Fortuna rolled her eyes. 

“Faculty can’t enter student rooms. Faculty can’t see your bed from the doorway. So basically, Drew wants your bed because you can do whatever you want over there,” She said, taking her clothes out of her bag and putting them in the drawers at the end of her bed. She left out a pair of boy shorts and a loose crop top. 

We pulled on our pajamas and finished unpacking while we continued getting to know each other. I hung up my gown and “semi-formal” dress up in the communal closet, and settled into bed with a copy of The Notebook. After only a few minutes my book was taken from my hands and placed on my nightstand.

“No nerd stuff tonight. We are going to play truth or dare.” Fortuna scolded, pulling me onto her bed. The other three girls were on Hannah’s bed. Drew clapped her hands.

“I’ll go first! Someone ask me!” She squealed. I decided to speak up.

“Truth or Dare?” I asked.

“Dare!” She shouted, smacking her hands over her mouth. I had the best one, but it might not work.

“I dare you to send a picture of your butt to a boy,” I told her. She shook her head. 

“I don’t have any boy’s numbers, so I can’t really do that.” She replied. Felicia pulled out her phone.

“Luckily, I have a twin brother. Here is his number,” She added, tossing her phone to Drew. She sighed, entered the number in her phone and stood up. She took a picture of her crack with minimal giggles from the peanut gallery and thumped back onto the bed.

“Now, what to caption it?” She asked. We all thought for a moment before she started typing. She showed it to everyone before sending it. Merry First Day, love Drew (Fortuna, Vega, Hannah and Samantha)

We all cracked up and continued playing while waiting for a reply. I learned that Fortuna was terrified of horses. I also got to see Hannah kiss Drew and I got to eat a mixed handful of every flavor beans. It was fun. Just before Samantha could decide on truth or dare, Drew’s message tone went off. She scrambled for the phone and opened the text. She showed it around. It depicted two pairs of boxers and three pair of boxer briefs over pubescent boy butts. It was captioned take your pick. Fortuna shuddered.

“One of those belongs to my brother,” She gagged. We laughed. Hannah clasped Fortuna’s hands in hers.

“Tuna, can I have your blessing to tap your brother’s ass,” She requested, looking Fortuna dead in the eye. Fortuna sighed.

“I guess I can’t stop you,” We laughed again. I checked the clock one of the girls mounted above the door. We had gotten back from dinner at seven and it was now almost 11.

“I think we should turn in. I don’t want to be tired on the first day of classes,” I told them. Hannah nodded in agreement.

“She’s right. I can not have bags under my eyes on the first day,” She said. That wasn’t quite what I meant but I was thankful for the support. We all climbed into our respective beds and turned out the lights on opening day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyways guys... subscribe for more anti-canon content thank you.


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